Building strong families is focus of HHCC meeting

By BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Building strong families was at the heart of Tuesday?s Healthy Henry County Communities (HHCC) board meeting with board members receiving an update from The Family Connection of Henry County.

Stephanie Gardner, family support specialist with The Family Connection, gave a presentation regarding the organization?s function and the services they provide, saying that the number of families they are serving is strong.

?On average, we currently serve over 60 families, and that number is continuing to grow,? Gardner said.

Recently, The Family Connection staff has been spending a good deal of time obtaining state certifications and credentials. According to Gardner, the process to do so is rather lengthy and time consuming, but important to the success of the program.

?Lately, our big project has been applying for our certification. Recently, we turned all our information in, so the bulk of that work is done. Now, we can focus our full attention to recruiting more families to the program, and we?re really excited about that,? she said.

The goal of The Family Connection is to provide early childhood educational programs designed to improve the health and well-being of expecting women, parents and their children by offering a personal approach to resource connections.

All programs offered are to Henry County residents with children ages zero to five years old. Through The Family Connection, families can obtain information about child development, family counseling, child discipline strategies, parenting support groups and much more.

In addition, The Family Connection has Spanish-speaking staff to assist families and their children. Parenting support groups for Spanish-speaking parents are also currently available.

?Many of our regular programs are seeing steady participation, and we have received a lot of great feedback from families. These are all good signs that parents are taking something positive away from our services.?

Bob Cardoni, an HHCC board member, said he is happy to know that services are being utilized and that The Family Connection staff was working diligently to obtain certification.

?I am very impressed to hear that many of the program?s participants are so excited about a program like this that does so much good,? Cardoni said. ?It?s good to see staff working hard to improve the lives of families in Henry County.?

The Family Connection is located on the lower level of the Henry County ISU Extension Office, in Mt. Pleasant.

Besides hearing from The Family Connection, the board also discussed the upcoming Henry County Fair. For several years, the HHCC board has offered an array of healthy meals and snack food options during the fair, and this year will be no different.

Kelly Carr, HHCC coordinator, said that this year, fair-goers should be on the lookout for a few new healthy food options to choose from.

?This year we are going to be serving ham and turkey wraps, grilled chicken salad, fresh fruit and frozen smoothies,? said Carr. ?Also on the menu this year are hot chicken fajita wraps and buffalo chicken wraps, which will be very good and very different from items we have served in the past.?

HHCC will also be serving several healthy kid-friendly snack and meal options as well.

Other items of discussion during the meeting included the following:

The proposed 2016 fiscal year budget was approved

A subcontract with Iowa State University Extension and the Iowa Child Abuse Prevention Program was reviewed and approved

A review of May financial reports for HHCC was also reviewed by the board

The next HHCC meeting will be held Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 1 p.m., at Henry County Health Center?s Health Education Center.